Survivor

Chuck Palahniuk

"It's only in drugs or death we'll see anything new, and death is just too controlling." I had...more

"It's only in drugs or death we'll see anything new, and death is just too controlling." I had owned this book for years (I don’t even remember why I picked it up, particularly as I had never read any other Palahniuk) before I finally decided to take it off the shelf and enjoy it yesterday. It’s a relatively quick read – I started at about eight and finished, even with lots of interruptions, by midnight. I would agree with the reviewer below who states that “Survivor” does tend to be a tad repetitive (specifically with the “testing one two three” and the household cleaning hints, which were practically useful but got old after the first hundred pages). However, off the top of my head, that’s my only complaint. The (endlessly biting) satire really heats up at about the halfway point, when Tender Branson, the morally ambiguous but compelling main character, starts to become a religious guru. This section is gold. Also, I’m impressed by the staggering amount of minute research the author evidently did for this (airplane mechanics, stain removal, depression medications, religious cults, etc). Lastly, though suicide is a thread that runs thickly and constantly throughout the book, I didn’t find the novel (or its ending) to be as wholly and utterly depressing as some have. Tender has long been searching for the certainty of life after death, and he ultimately finds it – just not in the way he or I would have expected.   hide

You know when you read a novel and get disappointed particularly because the blurb made them sound...more

You know when you read a novel and get disappointed particularly because the blurb made them sound so damn great?!? Well that's what happens with Survivor. What? A man crashing to his certain death aboard a 747 records his life-story on a black box? What he was an obsessive compulsive house-cleaner who developed detailed schemes to rob department stores by returning unpurchased items at the complaints desk. He is overweight and has an unrequited love for a woman with a morbid fascination. Sounds like a cock-tail of the annecdotal, intense narration for which Pahlaniuk has become renowned right? Well it is and it isn't. The narrator is absolutely engaging as he so often is iin Pahlaniuk's novels. In fact, my problem was not so much that any of these expectations proved false but rather that they proved true... and that was all. There's nothing worse than a good book which is exactly as good as you expected it to be for exactly the reasons you expected... in other words, what I'd like to see from Pahlaniuk is something other than a character-driven first person novel evoking the memoir and the epistolary novel. Maybe my standards are too high... Die-hard Pahlaniuk fans will certainly love it. I'm told I have to reach Lullabye to see the man try new things... maybe that's what I'll do...    hide

Palahniuk certainly gets points for his creativity but this book was lacking in value a lot of the...more

Palahniuk certainly gets points for his creativity but this book was lacking in value a lot of the time for reason of it getting old before it's pages were even half read through. A lot of the time it is both overly repetitive and descriptive. Also the book ends in a vacuum with hardly any amount of resolution. The book does offer up a few interesting thoughts to provoke the reader to really think about things at a higher level.   hide

After college, I went 8 years without reading a book (pathetic yet so Alabama). I was involved in a...more

After college, I went 8 years without reading a book (pathetic yet so Alabama). I was involved in a conversation with a couple of good friends that where amazed that I was not a big reader. One of them went to his car and came back with a book in hand... Survivor. Told me to read the first chapter (no 47) and if I didn't like it, give it back. Keith went on to say that I would love the writing style and humor of the author. rn rnI read that chapter and 4 days later finished it and started a love for anything by Palahniuk.rn Religon, media, and vanity are brought up in the dark, satirical, painstakingly detailed and humors style that I grew to love from Palahniuk.rn rnThanks Keith, it was the perfect book for me.   hide

Out of the many great books by Palahniuk, Survivor is (in my opinion) one of his best. Having this...more

Out of the many great books by Palahniuk, Survivor is (in my opinion) one of his best. Having this be the first of his books that I have read, I would definitely recommend this book as an introduction to Palahniuks' writing style. That being said, this book is certainly more of a slow burn than other works of his I have read. While from the first chapter you know how this book is going to end, the journey up to that point is amazing. The ending is very sudden and was satisfying. 4.75/5.   hide